National Defence Committee on Nov. 22nd, 2007

[BGen P. Atkinson]

No problem.

You mentioned the Kajaki Dam. The Brits have taken over the security of that. The electricity is being delivered, and it is steadily getting better each and every day.

The Afghan National Police are being paid by the Afghans. They finally have a system in place and the police are being paid directly; it's not being, if you will, skimmed off a number of areas along the way. They're not 100% there yet, and the payment I talked about was, indeed, last week. That was an important step forward for those young policemen who are putting their lives on the line in our area.

Hopefully I've been able to touch on most of your questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Thank you. You did a pretty good job on all those questions.

We have only one stop left, on the government side.

Ms. Gallant.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll be sharing my time with Mr. Hawn.

Notwithstanding the theatrics of some of the other members, you are welcome to be here, and I really enjoyed your briefing. Also know that references--

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Just a minute, there's a point of order.

[John Cannis, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

On a point of order, Mr. Chairman, I've been sitting here observing and listening to everybody. I don't think there was ever an expression of this general, or anybody, not being welcomed to this committee.

[An hon. member]

Go to the question.

[John Cannis, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

I'd ask that to be withdrawn, sir.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

I'm not sure I can ask for it to be withdrawn. I'll leave it up to Ms. Gallant.

Ms. Gallant, please go to your question.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

In your commentary, you made reference to 3 RCR. I have met some of these soldiers who have had a chance to be in Afghanistan before, and they're very eager and inspired to go back because they feel they're really making a difference.

What sorts of things are these soldiers seeing on a day-to-day basis that would encourage them to go back and put their lives in danger?

[BGen P. Atkinson]

That's a very easy thing to answer.

Our soldiers interface with the Afghan population each and every day. It may be in the city of Kandahar, the villages, the soccer stadium, at the causeway that's being built, or at other bridges or wells. The focus of the provincial reconstruction team is in that whole of government approach, and the biggest part about the provincial reconstruction team is that word “reconstruction”.

They're there, seeing all those projects being put in place every day, whether it's delivering wheelchairs, helping rebuild the schools, repairing canals, helping to get the sewage system back so it actually functions, or helping to bring electricity from the Kajaki Dam. Those are all the things they see each and every day.

They see the immunization program for the kids. They see the number of girls going back to school. They see a Terry Fox run done under another name inside the city of Kandahar this last year; they had 10,000 people participate. It actually had young men in shorts and T-shirts, something that has not been seen before in that part of the country.

Those soldiers are indeed our best spokesmen as they go out, because they see it firsthand. As you said, they come home and they are quite willing to put their lives on the line and go back to represent our country for something that they see as laudable and important, and they do see the progress.

I say our best spokesmen are those troopers, corporals, and master corporals who actually deliver each and every day. When they're asked the question, their response is almost unanimous: they can see the difference they are making on the ground.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Mr. Hawn, you have two minutes.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I just want to make a couple of quick points.

First of all, in response to Mr. Bachand, the general public isn't behind that camera, so there is going to be a limited amount of information that can be spread.

The general said the Senlis report was important; he didn't say it was good. Senlis's credibility is not universally accepted.

To the general, obviously there are lots of challenges over there. People who have been there today versus five years ago universally comment on the improvements. There's a tendency on the part of some people to take every report that has good news in it as being automatically written with rose-coloured glasses, or to take any report that has something bad in it as automatically being the truth, which is very unfortunate and very unfair.

What I'd like to ask you, though, is this: with all the challenges we face--and we know we face lots of challenges with the ANP, the ANA, the Taliban, obviously, and all the things that surround them--what is our philosophical attitude towards meeting those challenges? I mean the attitude that our folks have. Cheryl's question touched on it, but from a higher level, what attitude do you see within the Canadian Forces? Working in theatre with all those folks, what attitude do we take to those challenges and what we see coming down?

[BGen P. Atkinson]

Across the board, from a trooper to the Chief of the Defence Staff, anybody who has been to Afghanistan has seen the impact we have on the ground. They understand the importance. If we don't solve Afghanistan today, it is something that could potentially come back to our shores as it did in 9/11.

To a man, the members of foreign affairs, CIDA, the RCMP, and the Correctional Service of Canada who come to work with us each and every day as part of that whole of government team see the impact we're having. We see it from the locals and we see it from the members in the Afghan ministry. Officers on our strategic advisory team in Kabul who work to help build capacity in those ministries return to Canada; they come back, and we put them on our plans staff so that we can take those hard things they've learned there and turn it around. They see it in spades. We are very positive about what we're doing because we see the results.

I have visited Afghanistan seven times in the last 18 months. In my last job I was the executive officer to the Chief of the Defence Staff. Over a period of time we'd make a visit every six weeks to two months; I would go in and I could see the tangible differences. If you're there every day, sometimes it may appear to be slow; when you go back periodically, you can see those changes. The amount of progress you see on the ground is incredible.

On my first visit to the Zhari-Panjwai, 18 months ago there was nothing. The villages were empty.There were no lights on. Today there are 30,000 or 40,000 people there. The markets are going. The electricity's there. The highway's paved. The commerce is going. Farmers are back in their vineyards. All the fields are being irrigated. We're just seeing a complete resurgence of the population.

Those displaced people who have moved back in represent the kind of progress our soldiers see, and they in turn are encouraged by their efforts and they know the impact they're having.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Thank you, sir.

There's one question I have, just to refresh my mind: How many Afghans are in a kandak?

[BGen P. Atkinson]

It can vary, but 600 is a good rule of thumb for an Afghan kandak. It could be anywhere from 400 to 800, but about 600, depending on where they are.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Thank you, sir. We appreciate the time.

The committee will suspend for a couple of minutes while we move in camera.

Thank you.

[Proceedings continue in camera]